by D L Lane
“Are you still there?”
“Yes,” he said, “it’s got to be some mix-up at the bank. I’ve been moving money around lately, setting up a college fund for the twins. Don’t worry though; I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay. I figured it must be some mix-up, too.” The concern she’d felt lifted. “I’ll pay Mrs. Beil from my grocery money, but please find out what is going on.”
“I will.”
“Are you okay. You sound…off.”
“I’m just exhausted. Back to back surgeries are wearing me down. I’m not in my late twenties anymore. But I’m fine. Just getting old.”
“You’re not old.”
“Older than you,” he countered.
“Forty-three isn’t nursing home bound, Marcus. But maybe you should think about slowing it down there at the hospital.”
“I’m already giving that some serious thought.”
That made her smile. “You are?”
“I am. I’ve been a resident surgeon a long time, and I’ve been talking with another colleague of mine about the possibility of opening up a private practice.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yes. Nothing has been decided, though.”
It didn’t matter, just the thought of him being with her and the twins more was a gift. “Will you be home for dinner this evening?”
“I don’t know. Let’s play it by ear, okay?”
“All right. I’ll let you go.”
“Kiss the babies for me and tell Mrs. Beil I’m sorry for the mix-up and that I’m calling the bank as soon as we hang up.”
“I’ll tell her. Love you, Marcus.”
“Listen, I’ve got to go. I’m being paged.”
“Okay, bye,” Danica said, but he’d already disconnected.
Sitting her bag on the counter, and putting her phone down beside it, she pulled out her wallet, riffled through the bills, happy she just had enough to pay Mrs. Beil, then handed the money over. “Marcus sends his apology for the issue and says there’s some sort of mix-up at the bank, but he will take care of it.”
The woman’s cheeks flushed as she took the cash. “I’m sure he will, and I’m sorry as well.”
“Don’t be. The bank should be the one apologizing, but I wished you would have said something to me sooner.”
Mrs. Beil nodded. “It was kind of awkward, sweetie.”
“I understand. But don’t worry, nothing like this will happen again.”
~
Unable to sleep, Danica sighed, rolled over in bed and looked at the time on the clock. 12:13 A.M. stared back at her in red, and Marcus still hadn’t made it home. Of course, she’d been listening for the telltale sounds of the automatic garage door engaging, the door lifting before her husband pulled his newest Mercedes into the third bay next to his SUV, instead of praying, then nodding off. But regardless of her exhaustion, she wouldn’t be sleeping until he was home safe and sound.
Tossing the sheets back, she rolled out of bed, slipped her feet into her fuzzy slippers, and went into the en-suite to grab a glass of water, not wanting to make the trek into the kitchen and possibly disturbing the twins. From the sound coming over their baby monitor, all was well, and Danica tried to keep it that way.
Flipping the light on in the bathroom, she walked toward the double vanity then stopped. Unsure why she hadn’t put that box back into her jewelry cabinet weeks ago, she reached out, picked it up, and lifted the lid.
Beautiful diamond and sapphire art deco earring’s twinkled. She smiled.
With a gentle brush of fingertips over the precious stones, she let out a breath. The gift Gage had given her on her sixteenth birthday hadn’t been taken out of its tomb for years until last month, when for some weird reason, she’d felt like putting them on.
While clasping the box shut, the four-carat emerald cut diamond set in a platinum band sparkled on her left hand. However, as beautiful and important as the wedding ring was to her, those earrings were the one piece of jewelry that had always been priceless.
The sweet moment turned into a bitter pill as she took the jewelry to put away correctly. “Soon after Gage sent your dumb little heart aflutter with his thoughtful gift, your world came crashing down.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Before
Taping her feet, Danica was in the two-car garage her father had transformed into a smaller version of the Vibes Dance Studio, ready to put all her emotions into the new piece she’d been working on. Standing and bending her toes, she tapped the button to start the song. Moving into first position, swaying to Alanis Morissette’s “Uninvited,” arms weaving into port de bras, she broke out into a pirouette before twirling across the floor. As she danced, Danny’s worry didn’t subside, so she channeled it into the routine.
Leg extending out behind her, then transitioning into a cambré (the bending at the waist to the front, fingertips on the floor, leg going up in the air still behind her), she closed her eyes and let the music move her.
She hadn’t heard a thing from Gage. Oh, she’d seen him around school, at church, and youth group, but he acted as if she didn’t exist. His bizarre behavior not only confused her, but it hurt, badly, like someone had stabbed a knife in her chest and kept twisting. But for the past couple of weeks, he’d completely stopped coming to church and youth group, and she knew, deep down in her gut, something was seriously wrong.
Go see what’s up with him. Ask him what’s going on.
When the song ended, she went over and shut off her stereo, grabbed a towel, and dabbed her sweaty face; mind made up to see him.
As if on autopilot, Danica hurried inside the house and up to her room. Rushing, she grabbed a pair of pants she used as a cover-up for her leotards, tossed on a t-shirt, then slipped her feet into a pair of slip-ons, not even taking the time to cut the tape off.
Not bothering with her hair or anything else, she thundered down the stairs, tugged her windbreaker off the coat rack, and opened the front door, gasping—hand to throat. “Gage! You startled me.”
He’d been standing on the stoop, the expression on his face so sad, it almost made her cry once she really looked at him. She wanted to grab hold of his muscled body, plead and beg him to tell her what was wrong, but she held herself still. “I was just heading out to see you. What are you doing?”
He didn’t answer.
“Gage?”
“Your mom’s car isn’t in the driveway. Are you here alone, or is Breck with you?”
There was something off with his voice. Almost flat.
“No one is here.”
“Can I come in?”
“Sure.” Danica stepped aside, allowing him entrance then closed the door behind him. When she spun around, saying, “Gage,” his, “We need to talk,” blended in harmony.
“Okay.” She tossed her jacket and took his hand, but he pulled away, the stabbing sensation in her chest flaring to life once more. “Do you want to go into the kitchen? Maybe have a snack and talk? Or maybe a drink? We’ve got—”
“No.”
She frowned at his abruptness. “All right. Where do you want to go?”
“The living room.”
She was surprised, figuring they’d go into the den. They always went to the den.
“Okay. Let’s go.” Danny took the few steps it required to get to the couch and took a seat on the edge, Gage sitting in the wingback chair across from her, obviously putting as much distance between them as he could.
She rubbed at the pain in her breastbone. “What’s going on? I’ve been really worried ever since you called me a few weeks ago and said you couldn’t take me to youth group because ‘something came up’. You haven’t been talking to me, and well, fine, but you haven’t been in church either,” she rushed out, peeved overtaking the ache. “It’s like you’ve decided to be a ghost or something. I wouldn’t even know you’re alive if I didn’t see you at school. And thanks for ignoring me, by the way, it’s been so much fun!”
“Danny.
” His usual sandpaper-smooth voice was nothing more than a hoarse whisper. “There’s something you should know, and I’m not sure how to tell you.”
Gage bent, put his forearms on the worn-white thighs of his jeans, and glanced down at the carpet.
With a sense of doom looming, Danica swallowed the lump starting to form in her throat. “Whatever it is, just say it.”
“Jenny.”
The name was enough to do her in, but she asked in a low tone, “What about her?”
“She’s…” He paused, set up, rubbed his forehead, looked at her with an expression she’d never seen before, and said, “She’s pregnant and says the baby is mine.”
Danica was expecting him to say they were dating or something, and that would be horrible enough, but not that she was… She was…
Had someone sliced her open with a samurai sword? Was she bleeding out?
A heartbeat passed. Then two, and three, as the life drained from her.
“She’s-she’s—” Danica couldn’t get the words out of her parched mouth, they seemed to get stuck in the sand.
“She’s pregnant.” Gage’s brows pulled down. “I just came from the ultrasound and knew I had to tell you. I didn’t want you to hear this from someone else.”
Standing to her feet, she swayed like a sailor on a ship in the middle of a storm.
“Danny?” Gage stood.
Head spinning as if she were going to faint, she held up her hand, palm out. “Get out!”
“Danica, I—”
“Leave, Gage.” With her heart shattering, she somehow held back the tears threatening to overflow.
He rounded the coffee table and stepped up to her, reaching. She jerked away from him. “Don’t touch me. Don’t ever touch me again!”
“I’m sorry,” he said, voice broken. “I never meant—”
“You never meant to what? Send me mixed signals for years, finally kiss me, hold me on your couch, making me think maybe, just maybe we could—” She shook her head, straightened her spine and let all the hurt, anger, disappointment, and heartache churn into a venom spewing from her lips. “No more, Gage! I’m done. From this point forward, you don’t exist in my world.”
Turning, she made her way to the stairs, briefly glanced over at the boy who had single-handedly torn her apart, and said flatly, “Lock the front door when you go.”
Devastated in ways she never thought possible, she went straight up to her room, slammed the door shut, fell onto her bed in a limp heap, and let the torment in her soul scream its way past her trembling lips.
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Gage!” Jenny sashayed into his office, wearing a long, red, cashmere coat, a huge smile on her face as he stood from his chair and came around the desk. Grabbing his biceps, she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “It’s so good to see you.”
Making sure to take a step back, Gage grinned. “It’s nice to see you too.”
Those hazel eyes of hers scanned him. “You look so handsome in uniform.”
“And you look as if you haven’t aged a day since I last saw you.”
She waved, then adjusted the strap of her purse. “I’ll let my plastic surgeon know you think he’s doing a great job.”
His brow furrowed. Gage always did have a hard time knowing if she was teasing or if she was serious. “Are you joking about the plastic surgery thing?”
She lifted her gaze heavenward. “Yes, silly. I was.” She glanced around his office, her attention falling onto his ‘reminder,’ then looked back at him. At first, he thought she was going to bring up the tragic events in L.A., but instead, she asked, “So, where are you taking me for drinks?” rather too cheerily.
“Since I’m on the job, I’m afraid drinks will be your choice of soda at The Snack Shack or coffee from Mason’s place.”
“I heard he opened a chocolate shop. Delish!”
“He did. And it comes with a fancy coffee bar. Frappuccino’s, Latte's, Mochaccino’s…”
“How about plain old black sludge?”
Gage chuckled. “He serves that too.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
~
The bleep, bleep, bleep-bleep of Danica entering her PIN rang out as the ATM clicked, started sorting, and then shot her withdrawal into the slot. They’d never talked about the money snafu further, as when Marcus finally came home, he fell into bed.
Grabbing the bills, happy relief settled over her. Marcus had taken the time to chat with their bank in Seattle, and whatever the problem was had been fixed.
Putting the replacement cash into her wallet, she went over a mental list of to-do’s—Pick up something cute for the babies to wear for Halloween. Drop off the dry cleaning. Make a quick stop at the Food Barn…
Her thoughts were interrupted by the bell tones of her cell phone, so she slipped it out of the designated pocket in her purse, tapped the icon and said, “Hey, Brecky-boo!”
Her sister chuckled. “Hi there, sis.”
“How are the honeymooners?”
Danica could practically see Breckin’s green eyes roll. “We’ve been back for two weeks.”
“I know, but isn’t the honeymoon continuing?”
“Maybe.”
Danica could hear the sly grin. “By that wily tone, I’ll take that as a yes.”
“Being married to Mase is pretty great.”
“Aw… I’m so glad you are happy.”
“Me, too.”
Danica smiled. “So, what’s going on?”
“Nothing really. I just wanted to call and see if you are bringing the twins to Trick or Treat Street tomorrow evening.”
“I was planning on it. Why?”
“I thought maybe it would be fun to come to the shop and help us give out candy. The twins all dressed up will be a big hit.”
“Sure, that sounds like fun. I’m going to go pick up their costumes here in just—” Turning for her vehicle, Danica’s good mood dropped like a led weight. “Breck, I’ve got to go.”
She heard, “Danny is everything—” before she pulled the phone from her ear and stood there on the sidewalk, a still life, her open purse dangling off her forearm, white-knuckling her cell while something vile squeezed off her air and noosed around her throat.
~
With his palm resting between Jenny’s coat-covered shoulder blades, Gage directed their path across Main Street, then down the sidewalk. All the lamp posts and storefronts were decorated for the current holiday, he absently noted as the occasional, “Good afternoon, Chief,” came their way, people doing a double-take at his companion.
“Do you think they’re surprised to see me?” Jenny glanced at him with one corner of her mouth tipped up.
“Whatever would give you that idea?”
Their teasing came to a screeching halt. Well, Gage’s did when he noticed Danny just a few feet away, frozen in place, lips parted, with a look of desolation on her face he’d hoped to never, ever see again, let alone be the cause of.
The screams of horrible pain started seconds after Gage heard Danny’s bedroom door slam shut —a horrible heart-wrenching sound, as if she was being gutted. And, she was—by him. Every wail mixed into his pain and just about took him down. But when her intermittent sobs became evident, he willed his legs to move to get to her. Poised, there at the foot of the stairs, he stopped.
“From this point forward, you don’t exist in my world.”
“She means it,” he muttered.
Fighting to maintain, not allow his tears to escape, he turned toward the Lorry’s front door, opened it, made sure the knob was locked, and whispered, “I’m so sorry, Danny.” Then the words he’d meant to say for months fell from his lips. “I love you,” he whispered, before he shuffled his leaden feet outside, closing the door behind him.
With the finality of that sound, something happened inside of Gage—a fissure formed in his heart. Somehow, he knew with all certainty, the faultline would, in time, shift, becoming more extensive a
s he took her ring off his finger and slid it into the pocket of his jeans.
Stopping in front of the Choc-Oh! Cottage, Jenny asked, “What?” Then she looked in the direction Gage was. “O-o-o-h…”
“Listen, go on in, and I’ll join you in just a few.”
Jenny’s, “Sure” registered, but he was already walking away, heading toward the woman who appeared to be shellshocked.
Just steps from her, she blinked out of her immobile state, turned, and started hustling down the sidewalk, away from her parked vehicle. “Danny!”
She didn’t stop or glance back; she just power walked in those too-high heels.
“Danica!”
She ran.
Gage sighed and took off after her, finally putting his hand around her elbow before she rounded the Cedar Point Gazette. “Danica?”
Yanking her arm free, she spun on him. “What?”
“Shouldn’t that be my question, but with way less attitude?”
Jerking her purse up, she closed the yawning top. “Really, Gage?”
“Why did you take off like that?” he asked, but already knew the answer—seeing him with Jenny had stirred up her world of old pain.
She clenched her teeth. “Maybe because I didn’t want to see you.”
“You couldn’t have got in your vehicle and driven away?”
Her eyelashes fluttered as if processing his question. “I need the exercise.”
His lips twitched; he couldn’t help it. “I see.”
“You can let go of my arm now.”
As he released his grip, she started to leave, so he stopped her once more. “Nope. You’re not going anywhere.”
“Are you arresting me, Chief Harrison?”
He arched a brow. “Do I need to?”
“If you think I’m going to stay put and talk to you, then I guess you’d better; because I’m leaving.”
He went for his cuffs, and those beautiful blue eyes narrowed on him. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Oh, but I would.” Dangling the steel in front of her, he said, “Go ahead and try me, beautiful.”
She gaped.
He reached out, placed his fingers under the shelf of her chin, and lifted until those pretty lips shut. “Now, let’s get a few things straight.”
